Inmates at a Venezuelan prison staged a protest on its roof on Sunday, piling flaming mattresses and calling for ‌the removal of the centre's director, who they said had overseen guards as they shot unarmed prisoners.Hundreds of inmates were heard chanting 'no more torture' as they took control of the Barinas Judicial Detention Centre. 'We want justice. They are shooting ​us, the guards and the wardens,' a prisoner said ​in a video shared by the Venezuelan Prison ⁠Observatory, a local NGO, on X, in which a ​man is seen with a bullet wound in his ​chest.Inmates said they were peacefully protesting when prison staff opened fire and left some wounded.Venezuelan authorities did not immediately respond to a request ​for comment by Reuters.Footage shows large columns of smoke from burning mattresses and sheets rising from the prison, located around 310 miles from Caracas, as inmates gathered on the roof, chanting, 'No more torture!' and hanging 'SOS' banners. Prisoners called for the removal of the recently appointed ​prison director, Elvis Macuare Guerrero. They ‌said ⁠their clothes had been taken away, they had been banned from receiving visits and pressured to sell drugs. Smoke and fire rise from burning mattresses as inmates gather on the rooftop of the Barinas Judicial Internment Center (Injuba) during a protest calling for the removal of the prison's director and against shootings, in Barinas, Venezuela, May 24, 2026 Hundreds of inmates took control of a prison in western Venezuela on May 24, 2026, claiming they were tortured and demanding its director be fired. Pictured: Venezuelan prisoners gather in protest on the roof of the Judicial Detention Center (INJUBA) in Barinas Members of the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB) stand guard outside the Internado Judicial Barinas (INJUBA) prison, in Barinas, Venezuela, on May 25, 2026Inmates' family members clashed outside with National Guard officers, armed with ​riot shields, as ​they unsuccessfully ⁠attempted to stop them from entering. They told the NGO they heard screams and explosions ​minutes after they entered.The NGO said it ​was documenting ⁠the events and reporting them to human rights watchdogs.For years, activists have criticised overcrowding, limited food and a lack of medical care in Venezuelan prisons, alongside what they allege are systematic human rights violations.In April, the government confirmed the deaths of five people during a riot at the high-security Yare III prison near Caracas.Venezuela has released hundreds of political detainees since US forces captured autocratic leader Nicolas Maduro in a stunning raid on the capital Caracas on January 3.The landmark amnesty law, which was adopted in February, is one of the most significant reforms passed by Maduro's interim successor, Delcy Rodriguez, under pressure from Washington.Some Venezuelans have, however, expressed frustration at the pace of the releases. Video grab shows inmates on the roof of the detention centre while smoke billows into the air Relatives of prisoners demand information about the transfers at the Internado Judicial Barinas (INJUBA) prison in Barinas, Venezuela on May 25, 2026The prison riot comes months after a deadly uprising that broke out at a jail in Ecuador, where inmates were set to be transferred to a new maximum-security facility, leaving at least 31 inmates killed. Violence at the Machala prison in southwest Ecuador last November saw 27 inmates die of asphyxiation and four others of unspecified causes.Authorities initially reported regaining control of the facility after only four deaths, but later reported the additional deaths following what they said was a separate flare-up of rioting.The violence broke out over plans for a 'reorganisation of inmates' to a new maximum-security prison that will soon begin operating in a different province, the prisons agency said. Ecuador’s prisons have become among the deadliest in Latin America as overcrowding, corruption and weak state control have allowed gangs connected to drug traffickers in Colombia and Mexico to proliferate. Many prisoners are heavily armed with weapons smuggled from the outside and continue to organise criminal activity from behind bars. More than 500 people have died in prison riots since 2021.